Redacted features a recycled plot?

posted at 8:39 pm on September 5, 2007 by Bryan

Let’s play a trivia game: I’ll give you the plot, you tell me the movie. Here’s the plot:

During war, a girl is taken from her village by five American soldiers. Four of the soldiers rape her, but the fifth refuses. The young girl is killed. The fifth soldier is determined that justice will be done. The film is more about the realities of war, rather than this single event.

If you answered Redacted, the controversial new film by Brian DePalma and Mark Cuban, you’re half right. It turns out that Cuban, who financed and produced the DePalma-directed film, might want to have a word with his director for coughing up a recycled plot from 1989’s Casualties of War.

That film starred Michael J. Fox as a sergeant in Vietnam who stood up to his evil superior, played by Hugo Chavez’s biggest fan, Sean Penn, after the latter led a group of rogue US troops on a rape and pillage quest reminiscent of the armies of Jenjis Khan. Here’s a clip, with the appropriate language alert.

Inspired by real events and the ever-emerging realities of an on-going war, “Redacted” explores the consequences of placing a group of young American soldiers into a morally ambiguous universe. Pushed to their very limits, the film portrays the tragic events surrounding a US army squad that targets and persecutes an innocent Iraqi girl and her family, culminating in a brutal rape and murder. The film addresses the innocent casualties of war and reveals the general helplessness surrounding the war in Iraq. A fictional version of the truth, “Redacted” forces the viewer to question the filters through which we see and accept events in our world. Ultimately, “Redacted” begs the question: Once we know the truth, what is the value of war and the worth of all its tragedies?

During the Vietnam war, a girl is taken from her village by five American soldiers. Four of the soldiers rape her, but the fifth refuses. The young girl is killed. The fifth soldier is determined that justice will be done. The film is more about the realities of war, rather than this single event.

Unpopular war, soldiers raping and murdering local girl, one troops stands up to all the bad ones around him: That describes both Redacted and Casualties of War. They’re basically the same film, made by the same director, 18 years apart and set in different wars. The aging DePalma has become such a hack that he’s now stealing from his younger, more talented self.

What was that famous William Randolph Hearst quote about the Spanish-American War? Oh yeah — “You furnish the pictures and I’ll furnish the war.” Brian DePalma has flipped that around a bit — “You furnish the war, and I’ll furnish the enemy agitprop.”

This movie will sell as many tickets as Leo DeCrapio’s global warming flick “11th Hour”. (It’s made less than half a million so far).

The only people who’ll see “Redacted” are those on the far Left who ALREADY hate our Troops. Normal Americans actually love their country and our Soldiers and don’t wanna see them portrayed as the bad guys in an anti-American propaganda film.

Isn’t there *anyone* in Hollywood that can make a movie showing the bravery and sacrifice of our nation’s finest? Everyday our Men and Women in uniform go above and beyond the call of duty in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere and show themselves to be the best among us. But nobody in Hollyweird wants to show THAT, right? If they wanna sell tickets, tell the truth about our brave Soldiers! Look at the success of 300!

I wanna see a movie about the Battle of Falluja. The Soldiers and Marines who took that terror capitol are true heroes! Brave and selfless, defending our way of life (which includes making movies). Thousands of terrorists were killed by our heroes there. The bad guys had the advantage but our Guys were better trained and fought for the guy beside him and they WON! But no, let’s focus on two or three bad apples instead.

“Victory? Boooooor-ring! We only wanna make movies about us losing, we need a conflict, there’s no conflict in victory.” Ever notice how there’s no movies about Desert Storm? Why? Because it was a one sided asswhoopin’ so there’s no conflict, there’s no story. But there are! There are PLENTY of heroic battles from the first Gulf War. And even MORE here in GW2!

But Hollyweird has an agenda, and victory has no place in that agenda. Traitorous prickels. Eff yew Hollywood.

This guy thinks he’s sooooo brave to “take one” this topic, as if he might get arrested for it. If he really were brave, he’d make a move showing muslims as the bad guys … but he doesn’t. Why? Because the [email protected] doesn’t wanna end up like THEO VAN GOGH! THAT’S the REAL reason!

Interesting what you’ll hear Hollywood say when we’re not actually at war:

What we did here was important. We finally pulled our heads out of the sand, we finally stood up to the brutality and said “We’ve had enough. Every time we ignore these atrocities– the rapes, the death squads, the genocides- every time we negotiate with these, these thugs to keep them out of our country and away from our families, every time we do thiS, we legitimize terror.

Terror is not a legitimate system of government. And to those who commit the atrocities I say, we will no longer tolerate, we will no longer negotiate, and we will no longer be afraid. It’s your turn to be afraid.

Name the movie, and the president at the time the film was released, and I’ll give you a cookie.

I wish the few conservatives in Hollywood would get together and make a movie out of the book “We Were One”.

Falluja, street by street, block by block, house to house, door to door fighting. Marines vs. jihadis! Bravery, self sacrifice, honor, humanity … SEMPER FI MUTHA F&CKER! The hajjis were shootin’ up with drugs and they fought like Tony Montana full of coke! They cheated, walked outside without weapons (therefore can’t be shot at) and into another house full of weapons. They hid behind women and children. The Marines kicked in doors and battled these bastards muzzle to frickin’ muzzle and kicked their muj asses! Where’s THAT movie???

Three Kings was more anti-American policy. The soldiers end up having hearts of gold (with some gastric petrol tossed in for effect). I actually liked that movie.

But, in Peacemaker, Clooney tosses aside policy, invades a sovereign nation’s air space and “takes the law into his own hands” to save the the UN/NYC from a grumpy muslim (white.muslim) and is portrayed as the hero.

I love war movies,but I won’t watch crap war movies.
When I first watched Casulties of War,I thought,hey looks
pretty good,until they obducted the girl.
That was the most uncomfortable hour and half of my life.
This guy did his best to paint and smear the United States Armed Forces.This movie almost made me sick to my stomach,
I will never watch this movie ever.
By the way,the left thinks that Green Beret movie was a
propaganda film,with John Wayne in it,I loved it.

This movie wasn’t about the (FOG)of war,but Sean Penn
committing an horrendous act,while in a Military uniform.

Tony they made a movie with Denzil Washington and Meg Ryan,
I can’t remember the title,it was about friendly fire.
The M1-A1 abrams accidently fired on their own tanks.
That was there attempt at a Gulf War movie.
I think they tried to portray the United States military
as lying and covering up the truth(not my words)in the movie.

CanOpFor, I agree. The only good part was at the end where McFly talks to the Chaplain and Spicoli gets busted. They actually show some sort of justice. But that’s not what viewers remember.

Yo, I dunno man, if Hillary wins, it might become ILLEGAL to make pro-military movies … I say that only HALF jokingly. Also, to add to your list: ID4. The Prez is a fighter pilot (clearly a Pub, however, the real prez was Klinton, totaly makin’ your point).

Profit, I gotta check that book out. Any waterbordering? :-) Another good one is “On Call In Hell”.

CanOp, yeah I mentioned that one up there about 15 posts back. I can’t remember the name of it either, and I used to have it on LASER DISC! Yes, I’m one of those idiots who bought a laser disc player, but that’s for another topic! They made SOME Soldiers look good and others look evil. Then the hero is a journalist … but, um, he USED to be a Soldier. I dunno know, as I said above SORTA pro-military. Kinda, maybe.

There was one pro-Army movie made during the W Admin: “The Great Raid”. It was ok, but nuttin’ to get all dressed up in your cammies for … uh, not that I DO that or anything, um, but I’ve HEARD of other people doin’ it!

Bryan:
No “calling out” here, but this “revelation” by TCS (and you) isn’t exactly news. It’s been known for a while that the plots of these two DePalma war movies are the same. From my February post on this movie, quoting website JoBlo:

And it’s not the first time for DePalma, who has a serial obsession with defaming U.S. troops as rapists and wrongdoers in all wars. From JoBlo.com:

According to Production Weekly, Brian De Palma’s follow-up to the loved by few, not really liked by many BLACK DAHLIA is going to be REDACTED, a war drama based on the recent events surrounding the rape and murder of a 14-year old Iraqi girl and the killing of three of her family members by four US soldiers. Oddly enough, this will be the second De Palma movie to deal with such a thing; his CASUALTIES OF WAR [DS: starring–surprise!–Sean “Spicoli” Penn] centered around five U.S. soldiers during the Vietnam War, four of whom kidnap and rape a young villager.

Did DePalma make Body Double in 1984? He was practically ripping off Hitchcock early in his career (he may have once been a student of Alfred Hitchcock’s too), and with the aforementioned film, he even ripped off himself! Namely, he recycled plots from other movies he’d done like Dressed to Kill and Blow Out. I guess it shouldn’t be too surprising that he’d stoop even lower this time and rip off his own left-wing politics to boot.